Tag: RhodeWorks

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Two years after Gov. Gina Raimondo signed her signature RhodeWorks bill into law, her administration will begin constructing toll gantries to collect cash from large commercial trucks that use Rhode Island’s highways.

The first two toll gantries will begin going up on Monday in Hopkinton and Exeter on I-95, according to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. A number of lanes will be closed during the process, and there will be a brief overnight highway closure.

Fourteen total toll locations are planned, as part of the RhodeWorks law that passed in 2016. The 10-year road-and-bridge repair plan calls for collecting truck tolls to pay for the costs of rebuilding and rehabilitating the state’s crumbling infrastructure. Work on many of those projects has already begun.

RIDOT and Raimondo have argued that large tractor-trailer trucks do the most damage to Rhode Island roads, and therefore should contribute to fixing them. The trucking industry has fought back, consistently threatening to sue the state as soon as the first toll is collected.

“Everything up to this point has been conjecture and spin by RIDOT and Governor Raimondo,” said Chris Maxwell, the president of the RI Trucking Association, on Friday. “They now face their biggest challenge in a court of law and we’re ready to roll!!!”

“We have been prepared for three years for any challenges to this,” RIDOT Director Peter Alviti said. “We expect that we will succeed in defending any challenge.”

Alviti says the toll gantries that will go up next week will go through a month of testing before the automated system begins charging trucks that drive under them, either through an EZ Pass transponder or by billing the truck driver by their license plate.

The price for Toll 1 in Hopkinton and Toll 2 in Exeter will be $3.25 and $3.50, respectively. The rest of the tolls gantries are slated to go up gradually over the next 18 months.

Next week, daytime single-lane closures are scheduled on I-95 North and South Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the two tolling locations. The first location is one mile north of Exit 2, and the other is three miles south of Exit 5.

The highway will be temporarily fully closed from approximately 1-3 a.m. Thursday and Friday, while the installation of the actual gantries occurs. RIDOT says “rolling roadblocks” will be used, by lowering the speed limit to 25 mph.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The State Traffic Commission is slated to consider a proposal Thursday that would bar tractor-trailers from driving on certain state roads, many of which would allow the truck drivers to avoid new toll gantries expected to start collecting money by the end of the year.

The R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) requested the new restrictions, according to a letter obtained by Eyewitness News, and the Traffic Commission agreed to consider the request. The 15 routes vary from Route 3 in Hopkinton to Route 1A in Warwick to Route 122 in Pawtucket.

An Eyewitness News review of the proposed locations shows that many of the routes would allow truckers to get around the proposed toll gantry locations, although RIDOT did not cite that as a reason for the request.

“We are asking the State Traffic Commission to help ensure that large commercial trucks do not use local roads and neighborhoods as throughways but rather that they stay on limited access interstates which are designed to accommodate them,” RIDOT spokesperson Lisbeth Pettengill said in a statement.

Truckers have long promised to find ways around the 13 toll gantries after Gov. Gina Raimondo last year signed into law her high-profile RhodeWorks bill, which aims to fix a long list of roads and bridges at a cost of about $4.7 billion over 10 years. The tolls, which will only charge large commercial tractor-trailers, are expected to help raise the revenue.

“This is the next phase in the war against the trucking industry,” said Chris Maxwell, president of the Rhode Island Trucking Association.

Maxwell’s group has promised to file a lawsuit against the state as soon as the first truck toll is collected, claiming the state’s failure to maintain its own bridges caused the deteriorating condition, not the trucks. He questioned how police would be able to enforce the ban.

“How are they going to find out what trucks are traveling what roads for what reason?” Maxwell asked.

According to the letter from the State Traffic Commission, federal regulations say the use of the secondary roads cannot be restricted for the purpose of reaching the “National Network” of highways that link states and cities, or if the trucks need to reach a local area or stop for food, rest, fuel or repairs.

The American Trucking Association cited those regulations in a letter to Raimondo back in 2016, stating there are limitations on the state’s “authority to prevent trucks from using alternate routes to avoid tolls.”

“In addition, when estimating potential toll revenue and the impacts of diversion on safety, congestion, road and bridge maintenance costs, the economy, and the environment, it would be prudent to avoid assumptions about truck restrictions that are currently disallowed by federal and/or state law,” Vice President Richard Pianka said in the letter.

Pettengill said tractor-trailers should stay on the interstates, which are designed to withstand their weight.

“This ensures safety for both people and roads,” she said. “It helps preserve the quality of life in our towns, rural areas and neighborhoods. It relieves congestion and it keeps our assets viable until they can be repaired or rehabilitated.”

The State Traffic Commission is slated to take up the proposal at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.